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I-View Now exhibited at ISC West 2017 with its own booth space, a first for the company. When I stopped by I met with I-View Now president Larry Folsom and Nicole Swartwout, who is focused on platform integrations with the company. At the show, the company was discussing a few new integrations at this year's show. Particularly, that Bosch, Hikvision and OpenEye cameras can now come I-View Now ready.

In addition to these integrations the company has brought video to end users for alarm confirmation, through Affiliated's AlertMessage offering and Bold Technologies' NotifyMe, Folsom said that functions like these can really impact the industry.

This year, DICE brought two of its sister companies to the booth, IPtelX and Aventure6. In addition to catching up with Cliff Dice, DICE CEO, it was great to meet HR Topham, senior account manager with Aventure6, and Jordan Dice, president and CEO of IPtelX.

Cliff Dice said that the company was talking quite a bit with attendees about its cloud based automation solution, which now has more than 1 million accounts across 50 central stations.

Mark Matlock, UCC's senior vice president, said that at ISC West the company has been talking about the acquisition by Lydia Security Monitoring, COPS Monitoring's parent company, 14 months ago and how it has benefited the company. Matlock said that the company is preparing to activate its back up central station, which is collocated with COPS' Dallas-based monitoring center, approximately 320 miles away from UCC's own central station in San Antonio.

Matlock said that the company has experienced some growth recently, adding on 10,000 accounts since the beginning of the year.

The Fortress UTM—standing for unified threat management—is a recently announced device that takes the place of an Internet router and monitors communications between connected devices, bringing cybersecurity into the residential market. On the show floor I got to meet Roumen Kassabov, Fortress Information Security's software engineer, Juliet Okafor, Fortress Information Security's VP of global business development, and Michael Monroe, Fortress Cyber Security's senior engineer, product lead.

At the Kwikset booth, the company was showcasing some of its most recent locks, which were also announced at this year's CES. Its Obsidian lock is a keyhole-less design that only has a number pad to control the lock. Nick English, the company's national sales manager, told me that the design, as well as others, better fit consumers looking for a more modern or contemporary look. The company was also showcasing its Convert, a system that can turn stand locks into smart locks.

I was glad to meet with MivaTek’s Joe Liu, company chairman and CEO, and Elaine Kuo, MivaTek's marketing director. MivaTek provides a platform to access connected devices from a smartphone, review and record video clips. This can allow users to verify that an alarm is real and then call contacts, such as the local PSAP, from the app.

For my final booth visit, I met with Matthew Davis, project manager and help desk for Z-Wave Products. He showed me how the company's Z-Wave Tool Box can help an installer visualize connectivity and traffic between smart devices in order to better diagnose an issue.

All around I thought that this was a great year—one thing I heard at just about every booth was how traffic was really good. I look forward to seeing how the technologies announced and discussed at the show progress over the next year.

Day 2

The weather was very nice for the walk, and—as it always is—it was great to step away from the strip and the convention center for some more tranquil fresh air. I was happy to be alongside so many others in the industry, raising money for Mission 500, which benefits children in need.

Back on the show floor my day started out with a series of video interviews at Security Systems News’ media stage.

First, I spoke with Hank Groff, senior vice president, sales and business development for Dynamark, about the show and Dynamark’s focus of partnering with security dealers to provide them with more than third party monitoring.

John Wells, operations manager for Comtronics, and I talked on camera about the company’s switch from operating its own central station to using wholesale monitoring with NMC and how that has helped the company look at new technologies.

Tony Byerly, president of Securitas Electronic Security, talked on camera about the company’s final phases for incorporating its acquisition of Diebold’s North American electronic security division.

My last ssnTVnews interview was with Mike Donegan, national sales manager for Security Partners, and Jacob Trone, VP of Financial Security. We discussed Security Partners' new funding program for dealers and the benefits to it.

Each of these video interviews, as well as my talk on Wednesday with Justin Bailey, AvantGuard’s COO, will be available online in the future.

At COPS Monitoring’s booth I had the chance to catch up with Jim McMullen, COPS president and COO, and David Smith, VP of marketing and business development. McMullen said that several show attendees have stopped by the booth and mentioned that they like COPS’ redundancy across multiple sites. The company has five monitoring centers throughout the United States, including in New Jersey, Florida, Tennessee, Texas and Arizona.

OneEvent is, as I mentioned earlier, one of the companies I got the chance to speak with ahead of the show. On the show floor I got to meet a few of the team members face-to-face: Kurt Wedig, co-founder and CEO, Dan Parent, co-founder, COO and VP of engineering and Bob Mullaly, the company's chief data scientist. The company is initially looking at how its data analytics engine can help to predict a fire, based on environmental factors.

Mullaly mentioned that the system, beyond early detection and prevention, also has the capability to give first responders more information on the nature of the event if a fire does take place.

I spoke with Everbridge recently about its acquisition of IDV Solutions. I stopped by the IDV Solutions booth on the show floor to meet Scott Morrison, IDV Solutions’ executive vice president of marketing, and Annie Asrari, director of product management for Everbridge. While I have talked with the companies about IDV Solutions Visual Command Center, it was great to see what it looks like and how it works in person.

At Vanderbilt’s booth I met with Mitchell Kane, company president, and Kim Loy, the company’s director of marketing. I had a great chat with Kane about trends in the industry. He identified mobile credentials in access control and cloud-based or hosted systems as major trends in the industry. Both of these categories are fairly mature from a technology standpoint, Kane said, but have not matured much in the market.

MONI Smart Security is exhibiting at ISC West for the first time since its rebranding; Jeffery Gardner, company president and CEO, and Peter Tonti, vice president of product development, said that dealers’ responses to the new name and look, as well as its more consumer facing presence, have been very positive. At the end of March MONI announced that the company is offering a sign on bonus at the show, which Gardner said can really help a new dealer get started.

In early February, Bold Technologies officially released the latest version of its automation software, ManitouNEO. At this year’s ISC West, Coles and Matt Narowski, company director of development, gave me a brief demo of the new platform. Among the latest innovations is a new video interface and the ability to funnel more data on a central station’s performance into the platform’s dashboard.

At UL’s booth I met with Steve Schmit, engineering manager, Lou Chavez, principal engineer, security and life safety, and Neil Lakomiak, director of business development and innovation with UL. It was interesting to hear what the organization is focusing on, such as upcoming standards for tactical video solutions—such as thrown cameras; alarms, detectors and shut off systems for water leaks; and mPERS systems.

My last booth meeting of the day was with March Networks. Nathan Dinning, March Networks’ product manager, Donna Reid, director of marketing, and Dan Cremins, global leader of product management, talked with me about some of their latest systems. At ISC West, the company is showcasing a new camera, purpose built to bring high quality video into an ATM camera. March Networks also is debuting an integration between its Searchlight business intelligence offering and FLIR’s Brickstream 3D Analytics Sensor, as well as a new 9000 series of video recorders designed to fit well into all-IP environments.

Day 1

Starting out the show, it was great to hear the opening keynote: Philip Celestini, section chief for the FBI Cyber Division, sharing the FBI’s view of cyber threats, trends and protective measures. He talked about the four levels of cyberthreat from his perspective: certain nation-states, international crime syndicates, insider threats, hacktivists and then—at the bottom of the list—terrorists.

My first meeting on the show floor was with Kevin Lehan, PR manager with EMERgency 24 and Deanna Blair, independent sales representative. It was great to hear more about the company’s Incident Crisis and Control Service, or ICCS, which opens two-way communication with first responders in the event of an emergency. Blair discussed how critical partnerships and integrations are in the industry today. The company has recently partnered with Aiphone to offer its ICCS through Aiphone’s IX series. E24 comleted the video capabilities with Aiphone by last year’s ISC East and the two-way voice capabilities before the show.

I was able to speak a bit with Aiphone’s general sales manager, Bruce Czerwinski, and the company’s marketing manager, Dana Pruiett, about what they plan to discuss at the show. Czerwinski said that the company is focused on the message that it is not only focused on door entry, but instead multiple communication paths.

From there, I stopped by Affiliated Monitoring’s booth. This year the company decided to bring ISC West attendees on a tour of their headquarters in Union, N.J., with the help of a virtual reality headset. This was my first experience with any virtual reality system, and I found it quite interesting. I also got a live demo of Affiliated’s AlertMessage system, which allows an alarm’s call list to discuss the alarm, from Matt Solomon, who does marketing for Affiliated. The company recently brought video clips, through I-View Now, into the tool to aide the contacts in identifying if the alarm is true or false.

I’ve spoken with AvantGuard Monitoring about a few things lately, such as the company’s new hybrid monitoring models and its new chat feature. In an ssnTVnews interview, I spoke with the company’s COO Justin Bailey on camera about some of the feedback AvantGuard has been hearing at the show on these new offerings.

Brad McMullen, vice president of national accounts for STANLEY Security, told me that the company has been working on a few new things, including a personal safety offering, a new offering in data insights and a tool to help control shrink in the retail industry. The personal protection offering, STANLEY Guard, will help companies protect their workers outside of the building, he said. Through a mobile application, a user is able to trigger an alert and record both video and audio of a situation. Stanley is just rolling this out now.

With data, McMullen said the company is now reviewing data, such as with an access control system. He gave the example of a terminated employee still attempting to gain access to the facility, or another employee trying to open a door late at night.

Lastly, for the retail sector, the company is rolling out an offering that will help detect shrink at the point of sale, such as with mis- or un-scanned items. These alerts can be compiled for the user, or given in real time in order to address the problem before the consumer in question leaves the store.

At the Rapid Response booth, I spoke with Christopher Denniston, marketing and communications manager, and Morgan Hertel, VP of technology and innovation. Hertel spoke about how the industry has been changing over the last five years, particularly with video and analytics playing a larger role. When asked what he sees changing most, Hertel pointed to the users. “Your user base is radically changing,” he said. “They’re younger, they’re more savvy, and they have different expectations.”

At the Z-Wave Alliance booth I got to catch up with Mitchell Klein, Z-Wave’s executive director who was also at this year’s TechSec solutions conference, and meet Sigma Designs’ vice president, Z-Wave business line, Raoul Wijgergangs. In addition to the company’s new S2 framework, the company also has been working on a new device, the Certified Installer Toolkit, which helps installers diagnose problems by allowing them to visualize the connectivity between different connected devices.

IC Realtime was discussing an interesting new product: a silent and rapidly deployable aerial surveillance solutions that uses an industrial balloon. The system is called PLAS, or Persistent Low Altitude Surveillance. Robert Mitchell, IC Realtime’s SME on government practice and law enforcement referred to the system as “emergency management in a box.”

Nortek Security and Control on Tuesday, April 4, launched its new 2GIG Rely, a new DIY system. I enjoyed talking with Robert Beliles, Norek Security and Control’s vice president of product, about the system. Outside of the DIY market, the system has appeal for renters, customers with a second home, and those who don’t want a contract. Beliles also underlined the focus on creating a small and aesthetically appealing system.

Robotic Assistance Devices, or RAD, is working on several things, including a robot that will be “walking” in tomorrow’s Security 5k/2k—Steve Reinharz, RAD’s president, really liked the idea of “robots raising money for humans.” The company’s robot has many different uses as the robot can be equipped with a variety of sensors. Reinharz said that the company’s roadmap includes an autonomous charging station for the robot. Speaking generally on robots in security, he said, “This is not security integration, this is not security guards, it’s its own thing.”

At the Honeywell booth I had the pleasure of speaking with Ilan Dee, director of product marketing, cloud services, Honeywell Security and Fire, and Alice DeBiasio, general manager of Cloud Services, Honeywell Home and Building Technologies, about the company’s latest advancements with Alarmnet 360. The offering can now show dealers a visual representation of their customer base which could be broken down into areas of communication type, communication failures by area, home automation services and other categories. Debiasio and Dee pointed out how this information could be used to upsell and gain more RMR from a company’s existing customer base.

Also at the Honeywell booth I got to speak with Samir Jain, general manager, enterprise solutions at Honeywell Security and Fire, and Susan Adam, marketing director, enterprise solutions at Honeywell Security and Fire. Jain and Adam told me a bit about the company’s recent enterprise access control system, Pro-Watch, which incorporates mobile credentialing as well as mobile management and controls. The company is also talking about its advancements in fire notification, such as its new L-series.

As I mentioned in my short post yesterday, I made sure to save time to see the inaugural Unmanned Security Expo @ ISC West. I was interested to see robotics, such as with RAD, but also some of the anti-drone companies. One company, DroneShield, looks to audio detection to notice drones in the area and then couples that with a gun of sorts that electronically makes the drone land. Apollo Shield takes a different approach, detecting drones and then directing them to return the way they came.

I look forward to walking in tomorrow’s Security 5k/2k. The weather looks like it will be pretty nice for tomorrow, starting off cool but warming up throughout the morning.

ESX has made several announcements recently regarding its 2017 conference, to be held at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tenn., from June 13-16.

“Every year, planning a show like ESX is both challenging and rewarding. For 2017, it is more challenging than most,” ESX chairman George De Marco told Security Systems News via email. “Being our 10th anniversary of ESX, we want to make the attendee experience commensurate with celebrating this milestone.”

ESX looks for feedback from its attendees, De Marco said. "From this feedback, we learn the most important reasons why ESX matters to them, and continue to tweak ESX to fine tune the attendee experience. For 2017, the education will emphasize the practical and proven methods that improve operational and financial results. Some of them are basic, but even professional athletes are coached on fundamentals every year," he said.

Bestselling author Dr. Robert Kriegel will be the ESX 2017 keynote speaker. His presentation, “Innovate or Else,” will focus on various strategies for addressing change, challenge and competition in the industry.

Kriegel will deliver five strategies for developing new opportunities, ESX wrote in its announcement. He will also discuss the four most common obstacles to innovation and how to overcome them, outlining how to prepare for change and challenging the status quo.

“Innovative ideas often come from places you haven’t looked before,” Kriegel said in a prepared statement. “One of the best sources is to look outside of your industry.”

Kriegel’s clients include AT&T, BP Chemical, Boeing, Comcast, Exxon Mobile, Kraft General Foods, Nike, and the U.S. Navy as well as others.

The keynote for this year’s luncheon will be author, speaker and aviator Carey Lohrenz, She is a former Lieutenant in the United States Navy and was the first female aviator to fly an F-14 Tomcat.

“In a fast-paced environment, leading fearlessly is not easy, but it can be done,” Lohrenz said in a prepared statement. “The ability to work through fear kept me alive as I operated under dangerous conditions and in life-or-death situations on the flight deck.”

Lohrenz will speak from experience on the foundation for strong leadership, team motivation and how companies can elevate their business.

The ESX Keynote Luncheon is sponsored by Security America RRG. Security Systems News is the media sponsor of the luncheon.

In late March, ESX announced it added 30 new booths to the show floor. "Over 200 exhibiting and sponsoring companies will participate in ESX," ESX said.

It is only March, but I think it is safe to call 2017 the “year of cybesecurity” as the industry has doubled down on its focus to secure everything IP.

This cyber mania, so to speak, is not unfounded, as the security industry is learning firsthand—from recent highly publicized DDoS attacks and increased ransom-ware attacks to more and more stories of compromised cameras and security systems—that the convergence of physical security and IT is creating a new set of challenges and security risks.

As I prepare for ISC West, I am not surprised to see that this year’s keynotes will be focusing on cybersecurtiy. I am very interested to hear what Philip Celestini, section chief, FBI Cyber Division, has to say in his keynote, “The FBI View of Cybersecurity: Threats, Trends and Protective Strategies,” on April 5 at 8:45 a.m.

I am particularly interested to hear how far the FBI has come in the past year in its war on cybercrime, as Celestini spoke on this topic at ESX 2016, providing some eye-opening statistics on the high cost of cyber attacks.

For example, at ESX last year Celesini pointed out that ransom-ware attacks went from causing $25 million in losses to $200 million in just one year in the U.S., as well as an astonishing $2 trillion in cyber crime losses worldwide. I wonder where those numbers are this year?

The next morning at 8:45, a panel discussion, “DDoS Threat Landscape & Defensive Countermeasures,” will look at how October 2016’s attack on Dyn’s DNS infrastructure was a gloomy wake-up call to the online community at-large. The panel will look at the role that IoT devices played in the attack against Dyn, as well as the attack against Krebs prior to it, as well as defensive countermeasures with a strong emphasis on preparedness ahead of these attacks.

And later in the day at 1:45 p.m., Matthew Rosenquist, cyber security strategist for the Intel Corporation, will present his keynote, “How Cyber-Attacks are Changing the Expectations of Security, Privacy, and Safety,” looking at the growing types of incidents and challenges in the industry that are driving shifts in expectations for security, privacy and safety, presenting a glimpse of the future where both risks and opportunities abound.

In a letter to the CSAA membership, president Pamela J. Petrow noted that “our new name reflects our renewed commitment to our mission: to advance the professional monitoring industry through education, advocacy and public safety relationships. It also emphasizes our long range goals to grow the association beyond our traditional services to embrace the opportunities of our changing industry.” She added that the new name’s meaning “will be reflected in all future initiatives of [the] association.”

Association programs including Five Diamond, Excellence Awards, Online Training, and the Annual Meeting and Fall Operations Management Seminar are also undergoing rebranding and will be re-launched under the new name, the organization noted in its recent announcement.

“The term ‘Central Station’ no longer has wide recognition outside of our industry,” Lasko said in the announcement. “Our new name will facilitate our efforts to educate the public about the critical role TMA members play in public safety,” she said.

“Monitoring life safety events in the traditional central station model remains our core business,” Hauhn said in the recent release. “That will not change. However, our demographics surveys show that members increasingly monitor more than traditional fire and burglar alarms – they monitor medical devices, access control, and other non-emergency but meaningful events. Our new name allows room for the association to encompass all the areas our members are beginning to monitor and any into which they may move in the future.”

TMA’s website can be found at www.tma.us. Member ID numbers and login information for the website will not change. TMA staff will use the email suffix “@tma.us.” All emails to the previous “@csaaintl.org” address will be forwarded.

Companies across industries are increasingly leveraging the cloud for security applications, with 42 percent of respondents in a new study commissioned by Schneider Electric indicating they currently run security applications in the cloud and almost half (45 percent) stating they are likely or extremely likely to transition security operations to the cloud in the future.

The survey, conducted by Morar Consulting, included input from more than 300 U.S. CIOs, CTOs, IT directors, security/facilities managers and operations personnel across industries including construction and trade, education, financial services, healthcare, IT/technology, manufacturing and industrial and professional and business services.

“Leveraging the cloud for security applications is becoming increasingly accepted—and required—as we move into a 24/7 digital world,” Steven Turney, security program manager, Schneider Electric, said in the announcement. “Especially for companies where security management improvements are imminent, it makes sense to consider innovation at every level of their organization to meet their security needs. As businesses are required to be more agile, the cloud helps to unify and simplify security measures so an organization’s data, people and assets are constantly protected.”

According to the findings, organizations utilize the cloud for existing applications including data storage, human resources, email and security, and are eager to continue adopting it for security operations, with 57 percent of respondents believing the cloud is secure, including IT and technology professionals having the most confidence (78 percent), followed by education (70 percent), construction (68 percent) and financial services (52 percent). However, some skeptics remain, with 18 percent of respondents indicating they do not trust the cloud.

“Nearly three-fourths of respondents said network security is an important feature for security systems in their organizations,” the study’s authors found. “While the state of security continues to advance, respondents indicate security systems aren’t where they should be in order to adopt emerging technologies (54 percent), and despite business leaders being supportive of emerging technology (95 percent), many barriers to adoption exist.

Organizational/administrative barriers such as procedures, lack of perceived value and ROI were the top barriers identified that are inhibiting organizations from achieving their security goals, according to the study.

“While integration remains an obstacle to achieving security goals, almost 80 percent feel it is important to integrate security systems with other buildings and IT systems as part of an organization’s cloud strategy,” the study found. “Currently, photo ID badging, active directory, intrusion and CCTV are the top four systems organizations integrate into their security systems. The two top non-security systems organizations currently integrate with their security systems are automation and lighting.”

“I have wanted to develop a central station for a number of years,” CB Smith, CEO of Virtual Managed Solutions, said. The development of the monitoring center started in September 2016, and Smith credited the company’s VP and CIO Steve Boddy with much of the due diligence and technological setup.

Virtual Managed Solutions, or VMS, has operated a contact center here since 2007 and will be the parent company to VMSCS. “We’ve had a couple of really good years of growth and financial stability, so we’ve recently invested and we are online,” Smith said.

“We recognize that we have a skillset, we certainly have the network and we have the redundancy—of course—and now … the UL certification,” Smith said. “We are, as I see it, able to present ourselves as an apples-and-apples comparison to any other wholesale [station] out there in the country.”

The center, which officially opened at the end of February, currently monitors for about 150 accounts, Smith said. VMSCS is using Bold Technologies’ Manitou Cloud Services for its automation system. In addition to traditional alarms, the company will also do PERS and video monitoring.

Smith said that having the contact center business, collocated with the central station, will allow the monitoring center to offer “quite aggressive” pricing.

The company will be dedicating employees to monitoring center services, separating them from other call center operations in VMS. Picking the right people was important to the company, Boddy told SSN. “We’re looking for people that use customer service not as a job but as a career, because they’re going to put people first,” he said.

“Business development is obviously a big part of any business operation,” Smith said. The company is starting to grow its account base through contacting local dealers, he said. VMSCS is increasing its marketing and has created a new website. “From there, it’ll just be spreading our wings and going to different geographic areas of the state and then outside of the state of Maine as well,” Smith said.

Smith has a variety of experience with the industry, working with SimplexGrinnell, and Maine-based integrator Norris Inc, before working with VMS. “Since I opened this contact center with my team here, I’ve had a vision of coming into that world and working in that world. … I recognize the potential,” Smith said.

With drone technology gaining traction within the security space, it only makes sense that the discussion includes anti-drone technology, as the issues of privacy and rules and regulations regarding flight restrictions must come into play.

At this year’s ISC West in April, for example, the show’s inaugural Unmanned Security Expo—which has its own section of the show floor with a “flying cage” featuring ground-based robots and aerial drones in action—will also include an education portion addressing topics such as anti-drone technologies and drone use in law enforcement.

Many security companies have already developed or are developing anti-drone technology, ranging from machine-gun looking devices that can block communications and knock a drone from the sky, to technology that intercepts the drone’s signal, assuming control, so to speak.

The government is getting involved, of course; the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, Program Executive Office Unmanned Aerial Systems (PEO UAS), recently sent out a “request for information for participation” or RFIP, which “seeks technology solutions that are capable of detecting, identifying, and tracking, and identifying small unmanned aerial systems (SUAS) that are perceived as threats to people or critical infrastructure to participate in the DHS S&T 2017 Technical Assessment of Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) Technologies in Cities (herein called TACTIC).”

DHS S&T established the Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aerial Systems (PEO UAS) to lead DHS efforts in guiding, advising and enabling technology solutions in this area, and as part of this RFIP invites industry, academia, and other government organizations to submit applications addressing innovative technology solutions for assessment during TACTIC.

This is certainly an interesting time as we enter into the robotics as a service (RaaS) era within security. In our recent news poll, many respondents commented that they see great potential for drone and other robotic technology within security; many agreed that it is just a matter of how quickly these technologies are adopted.

As I’m watching the weather forecast for Maine predict a drop into single digits temperatures, I can’t help but think about the great weather we had in Delray Beach Florida for this year’s TechSec Solutions conference, held Feb. 27 and 28.

Though there was a bit of rain during the day, the weather worked out perfectly in the evening for our “20 under 40” Class of 2016 reception. It was great to see a variety of award winners able to make it down—seven from our end user class and six from our integrator class. Below is a photo of all the winners that could attend this year's conference.

Reviewing the feedback we’ve gotten, many said that they enjoyed the networking opportunities. Each year, I find that the poolside “20 under 40” reception is a great place to spark those conversations and meetings.

Beyond making it to the reception, it was great having so many of these winners also participate on panels. Paramount Pictures’ Jeff Reider, National Oilwell Varco’s Bob Bernazal and Brian Phillips of Alexion Pharmaceuticals—all three of which are 2016 end user winners—gathered for a conversation, moderated by Guy Morgante from Northland Controls, on the nature of GSOCs today.

Phillips also moderated the session on big data in the physical security world, which you can read more about here.

Class of 2016 integrator Andrea Kuhn, from Kastle Systems, moderated the panel on the mobile security technologies that are out there today.

Kuhn also served as a panelist on “Class of 2016 ‘20 under 40’ winners take on the future,” along with fellow integrator winner Jeremy Brooks, with CSG Security, and end user winners Michael Brzozowski from Symcor and Tyrone Chambliss of Flex. Together, these four panelists discussed various hot topics in the industry, including the Internet of Things, smart buildings, cybersecurity and drones.

It is very rewarding each year to recognize up and coming professionals in this industry, and it was great to see some of them at this year’s TechSec conference and hear their perspective on the latest industry trends.

Gartner found that adoption of “newer connected home solutions is still at the early adopter phase,” a conclusion based on responses from nearly 10,000 people in U.S., the U.K. and Australia during the second half of 2016. According to the study, “connected home solutions” consist of a set of devices and services that are connected to each other and to the Internet and can automatically respond to preset rules, be remotely accessed and managed by mobile apps or a browser, and send alerts or messages to the user (s).

"Although households in the developed world are beginning to embrace connected home solutions, providers must push beyond early adopter use," Amanda Sabia, principal research analyst at Gartner said in the announcement. "If they are to successfully widen the appeal of the connected home, providers will need to identify what really motivates current users to inspire additional purchases."

The survey found that home security alarm systems, the more established of connected home solutions, have nearly double the adoption rates (18 percent) of newer connected home solutions such as home monitoring (11 percent), home automation or energy management (9 percent), and health and wellness management (11 percent). Overall adoption rates were five- to six percent greater in the U.S., where they were first marketed.

However, excluding home security alarm services for which a monthly fee is generally paid, solution providers may find monetizing connected services challenging as the survey revealed that less than half of households currently pay for subscription-based home monitoring and automation/energy management solutions.

“In the U.S., where the home monitoring industry is more developed, 59 percent of households with a home monitoring solution indicate they do pay a monthly fee, thus proving they see value for these solutions,” according to Gartner. “However, charging for subscriptions for home automation/energy management and health and wellness solutions is more of a challenge since more than half of current households are already using these services free of charge.”

Using a scale of 0 to 100, respondents were asked about their feelings and preferences toward the value of devices, appliances and applications in the connected home ecosystem. Three-quarters of respondents indicated they are happy to manually set temperature and lighting controls versus only one-quarter who expressed an interest in having devices anticipate needs in the home. Furthermore, 58 percent of respondents showed a preference for separate, independent, stand-alone devices.

The study found that respondents are starting to see the value of one app for integrating their connected home devices, appliances and services as well as the importance of brand certification for their connected home devices and services. More than half of the respondents (55 percent) rated 51 or more toward the preference of one app integrating connected home devices and services, while 58 percent rated 51 or more toward the importance of hardware and services being certified by a specific brand.

"Messaging needs to be focused on the real value proposition that the complete connected home ecosystem provides, encompassing devices, service and experience," Jessica Ekholm, research director at Gartner, said in the announcement. "The emphasis needs to be on how the connected home can helps solve daily tasks rather than just being a novelty collection of devices and apps."

Ekholm will provide further analysis on consumers’ use of technology at the Gartner Tech Growth & Innovation Conference 2017 taking place June 19-21 in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Gartner found that adoption of “newer connected home solutions is still at the early adopter phase,” a conclusion based on responses from nearly 10,000 people in U.S., the U.K. and Australia during the second half of 2016. According to the study, “connected home solutions” consist of a set of devices and services that are connected to each other and to the Internet and can automatically respond to preset rules, be remotely accessed and managed by mobile apps or a browser, and send alerts or messages to the user (s).

"Although households in the developed world are beginning to embrace connected home solutions, providers must push beyond early adopter use," Amanda Sabia, principal research analyst at Gartner said in the announcement. "If they are to successfully widen the appeal of the connected home, providers will need to identify what really motivates current users to inspire additional purchases."

The survey found that home security alarm systems, the more established of connected home solutions, have nearly double the adoption rates (18 percent) of newer connected home solutions such as home monitoring (11 percent), home automation or energy management (9 percent), and health and wellness management (11 percent). Overall adoption rates were five- to six percent greater in the U.S., where they were first marketed.

However, excluding home security alarm services for which a monthly fee is generally paid, solution providers may find monetizing connected services challenging as the survey revealed that less than half of households currently pay for subscription-based home monitoring and automation/energy management solutions.

“In the U.S., where the home monitoring industry is more developed, 59 percent of households with a home monitoring solution indicate they do pay a monthly fee, thus proving they see value for these solutions,” according to Gartner. “However, charging for subscriptions for home automation/energy management and health and wellness solutions is more of a challenge since more than half of current households are already using these services free of charge.”

Using a scale of 0 to 100, respondents were asked about their feelings and preferences toward the value of devices, appliances and applications in the connected home ecosystem. Three-quarters of respondents indicated they are happy to manually set temperature and lighting controls versus only one-quarter who expressed an interest in having devices anticipate needs in the home. Furthermore, 58 percent of respondents showed a preference for separate, independent, stand-alone devices.

The study found that respondents are starting to see the value of one app for integrating their connected home devices, appliances and services as well as the importance of brand certification for their connected home devices and services. More than half of the respondents (55 percent) rated 51 or more toward the preference of one app integrating connected home devices and services, while 58 percent rated 51 or more toward the importance of hardware and services being certified by a specific brand.

"Messaging needs to be focused on the real value proposition that the complete connected home ecosystem provides, encompassing devices, service and experience," Jessica Ekholm, research director at Gartner, said in the announcement. "The emphasis needs to be on how the connected home can helps solve daily tasks rather than just being a novelty collection of devices and apps."

Ekholm will provide further analysis on consumers’ use of technology at the Gartner Tech Growth & Innovation Conference 2017 taking place June 19-21 in Huntington Beach, Calif.